Shiloh scoffed and shoved my chest, earning a chuckle from me. I pulled her face towards mine with a sobering expression, eyes bouncing between hers as I made sure she was hearing me.
“I mean it. Your safety is my number one priority, baby. Iwill notput your life in danger.”
She swallowed, staring at me. A nervous energy filled my body before I let the question out.
“Speaking of…how does it work if I want to take you out? On a date, that is.”
Shiloh looked like she was holding back a wider smile than the hint of one she was giving me.
“What do you mean?”
“Like…going out in public. Is that a bad idea?” She chewed her bottom lip, and it took everything in me not to pull it from between her teeth. Not to capture it with my own mouth instead. “I mean, we went to that bowling alley with your friends. Are there limits to what we should be doing together in public?”
“Um, as long as it’s not, like, a publicly televised show or something, we’re fine to go out on a date.”
“Okay,” I nodded with a smile, excitement bubbling in my chest as I thought about what we could do together. As I thought about getting to show just a little bit of the world that she was mine and I was hers. As I thought about all the ways I wanted to spoil her with my attention and my time. “You haven’t made any plans for tomorrow, have you?”
She frowned. “I’m going home, tomorrow, remember? Your family flies in on Sunday.”
“I was thinking that after Church, which you are still more than welcome to attend with me, we could have a date. A proper one. I never…” I paused, licking my lips as I glanced over her shoulder in thought. We were meant to have gone on our first date just days after she ‘died’. I had planned to take her to the light show Granby put on every December for the holidays. My eyes bounced back to hers. “I never got the chance to take you out like I had planned. And I want to. Really want to.”
We both jumped at the sound of an alarm going off. My eyes roamed to the dresser where Shiloh’s phone was ringing obnoxiously.
“Dinner. I’ve got to check the chicken,” she explained, untangling herself from my limbs.
I sighed, lazily watching her as she straightened her clothes—my clothes that she must have changed into when she got home from work earlier.
“So?” I asked, stomach tensed as I waited for her to reply.
“Um…yeah. I’d love to,” she said, cheeks turning pink.
She hurried out of the room, and I smiled at how damn adorable she was.
Twenty-Eight
July 24, Friday
Emory
“Damn,” Enoch drawled as he stepped into the kitchen. “You did all this?”
I rolled my eyes, grabbing the potatoes from the bottom rack before closing the oven.
“Jae helped,” I said with a shrug. I threw the mitts on the counter and glanced at Enoch. “You want to tell him the food is ready?”
“Not really,” he smirked, “rather just eat with you.”
“Shut up, shitbird. Go tell Jae and I’ll plate the food.”
Enoch groaned dramatically but winked and headed for the stairs. Anxiety suddenly twisted my gut. What if the chicken was dry? What if I put too much salt? What if they didn’t like it?
The thoughts buried my mind as I served the potatoes and carrots.
Enoch and Jae climbed the stairs.
“Dark meat or white meat?” I called out, pulling out a sharp knife to carve the chicken with.
“Dark,” Jae replied at the same time Enoch said ‘white’.
